Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1887-11-12
THE CLASS OF 's7.
A Composition Delivered by one Oh
Our Public school Graduates.

A Composition Delivered oy Ohe oi
Our Public school Graduates.
As many have expressed a wish to see
in print the essays of u graduating
class, we will publish them at intervals.
This week we give below the essay, with
valedictory. written by Miss Mamie
Steler:
CROSSING THE RUBICoN.
Fair lie the sloping valleys Of North
ern Italy; ~snow.capped, robed in clouds,
and striving, like Titans of old, to reach
the heavens, stand the Alps, protecting
wall to proud Rome.
A tiny stream, in midsummer spanned
at a bound, peacefully flowing down
through the pleasant meadows of these
green valleys, carries its clear, silver
waters, with it's reflections of the deecy,
Summer clouds to the blue Mediterra'
mean. Not a mighty Tiber, tossing its
yellow foam in impatience to be free;
not a deep and silently powerful Nile,
that life-giver of a nation; the beauty OF
this winding path is known to few, the
existence of this stream is little felt.
Not for what is, but for what it symbol
ICES is this streamlet known. To a trav.
eler, searching for the features Of the
landscape, it would be passed by with a
glance; to a student of the worlds his.
tory, it suggests a train OF vast conse.
quences reaching on through the centu.
ries. To Rome, when Cesar knew it, it
meant the boundary of his Gallo prov.
ince; to all nations in all times after
Cesar, its name has brought before the
mind the changes and events which have
formed the worlds history.
On the edge of this murmuring, little
stream, north of old Rome, in January,
40 years before Christ, stands a solitary
figure, closely wrapped in the ample
folds of the Roman toga. Slight in
form, but with a martial bearing and air
of passive strength which betrays the
soldier aud General, Julius Cesar stands
on the banks of the Rubicon. Before
him, beyond the little stream, though
hidden by distance to Caesars eyes. sits
imperial Rome, enthroned on seven hills.
Majestic and noble she seems, command
ing the world like Jupiter commanding
the heavens. In proud consciousness of
her might, she uses the power so soon to
be taken from her and gathered into a
grasp which should shape the destinies Of
the world. Behind him, lies his prov.
ince; yesterday his to govern-rule-
subdue-granted him by Rome's Senate;
to-day, by that same power withdrawn.
Behind him, too, lies his army, bound to
him as their General and leader and
ready to obey his commands. Shall
Cesar regard Rome's summons? Shall
he disband his army, return as a private
citizen to Rome, perhaps to see Pompey
seize the chief power, while he, Cesar,
is peer to any in Rome's Empire? What
would be the outcome if he refused ?
Thoughts of victory and worldwide
fame flash through his mind, balanced
with their Observation-Disclosures or
death.
Caesar paused upon the Rubicon; for
the difficulty of conduct lies not in
knowing what is right to do, but in
doing it when known. Caesar was
undoubtedly ambitious. He wanted to
be lord of the world-the first man in
the first city of the worll. His f~avorite
motto was: "If you may ever rightly do
wrong, you may do so for the sake of
obtaining sovereign power" Ambition
finally conquers; the die is cast; and, to.
morrow, he will lead his army on to
Rome.
By this act, Caesar gains an Empire
and transmits his name to the Caesars of
Rome for nearly four hundred years and
then passes it on to the Gar of Russia
and Kaiser of Germany, For when the
Germans, at Versailles, proudly new.
named King William, Kaiser, they so
hailed him Emperor by title dictated
to them, in unconscious anticipation,
twenty centuries before his birth, by
Julius Caesar.
When Caesar led his army across the
Rubicon, in defiance of Rome's command,
he announced himself a rebel in arms
against his country, and took a step
which he could not r~etrace. The results
were then unknown to him. They
proved ~unbouuded success, they might
have been overwhelming defeat. The
decision, once made, modified the whole
condition of his after life.
Great determination was necessary on
Caesars part to decide a step to be fol.
lowed by consequences so vast. In the
lives OF all come critical moments when
success or defeat hangs upon the decision
then given.
Not only Rome, but the whole of the
then known world was brought to
Caesars feet as the result of that one
act and the four years struggle conse.
quent upon it. Its influence has been
felt throughout the civilized world, even
to our own day. Like the overwhelming
circles formed on the surface of a quiet
lake from a pebble dropped from the
hand, the influence OF a single act, in the
crisis of a life, will reach on through the
centuries, the last concentric circles
breaking on the shores of eternity.
The consequences of the actions OF
men live long after their acts are them
selves forgotten and mold the lives of
others ignorant of their original source.
In our lives, each one of us will find a
Rubicon, at whose brink we will pause
as Caesar did. Some will decide to cross
it, others will hesitate before the DOS.
sible results. We all have a boundary To
our rights which We cannot oversten
without infringing upon the conditions
Of others. Our conscience, given US by
God, our creator, is a barrier to prevent
Dur passing this limit.
1t is not alone single individuals who
cross Rubicons, whole nations, in their
lives. have some critical period from
which We date their rise and fall. In
our W civil war, Fort Sumter was a
Rubicon. After the South had taken
that step, war was inevitable. The act
could not be recalled, and the conse.
quences must be met. In the Revolu.
tion, after the battle Of Lexington, moth.
ing could ever put us again on the same
footing with England. We had chosen
our course and the results had In be